VLADIMIR PUTIN’S FOREIGN POLICY CUNNING CONTINUES TO PAY DIVIDENDS: Armenian leader announces plan to leave Russia-dominated security alliance as ties with Moscow sour.

Amid the widening rift with Russia, Armenia earlier froze its participation in the alliance, canceled its involvement in joint military drills and snubbed CSTO summits.

On Wednesday, Pashinyan said for the first time that Armenia will leave CSTO altogether during a question-and-answer session in parliament, saying that the government will decide later when to make the final move. There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.

Armenia’s ties with Russia, its longtime sponsor and ally, have grown increasingly strained after Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September to take the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule there.

Putin — that great defender of Christian civilization — pretty much sold out Christian Armenia to Muslim Azerbaijan during the most recent crisis between the two countries, leading to ethnic cleansing in Azeri-occupied parts of Armenia. Whether that was due to Russia being bogged down in Ukraine or Putin not wanting to offend Russia’s growing Muslim population (or both) is anyone’s guess.